Freedom and truth today?

It was with much pride to see Cebu fellow practitioners celebrate Press Freedom Week this year. Not so long ago, during the reign of Ferdinand Edralin Marcos, Philippine press was muzzled. Is the situation much better at present?

With a very significant number of media personalities killed during GMA's term, we pause to reflect and agree with the observation of Conrad de Quiros of PDI that there are, indeed, similarities between GMA and Marcos. Bottom line, both have ruled based on lies, with so much truth concealed just to stay in power. As with Marcos in the past, now with GMA, the quest for freedom and truth continues in this country.

As protesters swelled in number to press for GMA's ouster in Makati and Mendiola, the timing of the protest was clearly to interface the present movement to remove GMA on the day Marcos declared Martial law in the Philippines.

It took years to depose Marcos. He controlled the press, he closed Congress, he orchestrated the charter change. He had US support for some years of his reign. He manipulated truth. He orchestrated the bombings that supposedly called for martial law to be declared. As he and his bejeweled wife dined and danced, the Filipino people wallowed in poverty while corruption spread and deepened within government.

It has taken, so far, about three months to oust GMA. Controlling the rule of number in Congress, she is now orchestrating charter change. She is holding the truth about her call to the Comelec official. As the nation suffers price hikes and taxes, favored administrators and supporters have their pork barrels, high salaries, and perks. Amid unabated corruption, worsening poverty continues.

Is there a way out of this deepening crisis?

Dr. Victoria Aveña of the Counsel For the Defense of Liberties (CODAL); Manuel Quezon III, Citizens for Truth and PDI contributor; Rep. Loretta Ann Rosales, AKBAYAN Party-List Representative; and Dr. Fernando T. Aldaba, chairperson, Dept. of Economics, Ateneo de Manila, will share their analysis about the present situation at the UP Cebu Conference Hall, from 1-5 PM , September 23. For more details about this forum presented by the Action for Economic Reforms and the Social Sciences Division of UP Cebu, please call 233-4708. We encourage everyone, especially the youth, to come and dialogue with these speakers about the crucial issues that require united analysis and practice to bring this nation beyond the crisis affected by the absence of freedom and truth in this country.

Truth is again the issue that the Blue Ribbon Committee wants to draw out from National Security Adviser, Sec. Norberto Gonzales who signed the P50 million Venable contract which he signed in behalf of the Philippine Government.

While GMA tells the Filipino people that she has no choice but to impose unpopular but urgently needed taxes, she approved a P50 million contract to lobby for foreign funds to aid charter change? Couldn't GMA just have spent these millions of pesos instead on the millions of needy Filipinos?

Again, like the Garci tapes, so many questions need to be answered related to this contract. What is the truth behind this Venable contract? Why does GMA and her administration need a lobby firm to help them with their proposed charter change? What is the implication of foreign presence and lobbying for our nation's constitution? Did GMA also authorize other foreign contracts, why, and how much were spent for these foreign deals?

Questions, questionable calls, questionable deals affecting our people, our nation, our votes, our constitution. When will GMA tell the truth about all these questions?